In the production of oil and/or gas, sometimes a heavier fluid is produced with the desired hydrocarbon fluid. This heavier fluid must be separated from the oil and/or gas and disposed of.
Preferably, the undesired heavier fluids are separated from the desired hydrocarbon fluids downhole and are injected into a disposal formation without being brought to ground surface.
An injection tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,216 of Slater et al. The tool which is disclosed handles the heavier fluids after they have been separated by residence time downhole from the lighter hydrocarbon fluids. The tool allows the heavier fluids to move further down the well into a disposal formation. The tool includes a portion for accepting and sealing with a pump and has inlet ports through which the heavier liquids flow into the tool and thereby into a pump secured to the tool. A plurality of injection ports are provided through which liquid from the pump is injected into the disposal formation.
The tool of Slater is of limited use, however, as the ports to the disposal formation are of very small diameter and, therefore, are easily plugged, are susceptibel to erosion and also cause a pressure differential through the tool. In addition, the tool is formed to only accept non-standard sizes of mandrels and cups.